


Breathe In

by Sholio



Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: Allergies, Anaphylaxis, Hurt/Comfort, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-12
Updated: 2018-05-12
Packaged: 2019-05-05 17:08:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14623290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sholio/pseuds/Sholio
Summary: For the tumblr prompt:AC OT3, allergic reaction.





	Breathe In

This was ... _stupid_ , Jack thought, it was impossible and stupid, it was simply not _possible_ that Peggy Goddamn Carter was going to die from a _bee sting._

He'd climbed up to the road to try to flag down a car; now he slid back down the embankment in his bare feet -- hadn't even put on his shoes, he was in too much of a hurry to care.

This was supposed to be _fun,_ damn it. Picnic in the countryside, the kind of thing _other_ people did, the kind of thing _they_ certainly never found the time for -- and they'd found this spot, a quiet little glade at the bottom of a steep bank beside a brook, surrounded by trees that Jack was far too much of a city boy to know the names for. The point was, it was nearly private; they still had to be careful, but they could kick off their shoes and flop on a blanket, with a picnic lunch packed by the Jarvises, and all the time in the world to lie in the sun and indulge in lazy kisses when the mood took them ...

And Peggy had to go get herself stung by a bee. Because it wasn't enough to survive the war, Leviathan, and a rift in the sky that led to another world full of what Daniel so eloquently called black space goo. No, she had to get herself stung by a _bee._

They were by the stream where he'd left them, the picnic in disarray as if a high wind had torn through it. Daniel had her head in his lap. Her fingers were knotted in Daniel's sleeve with something just short of panic, her body arched as she fought for air. Daniel bent over her, face close to hers. His voice was a constant, soothing mumble, no matter the panic he must have been feeling, telling her in an calm, reassuring cadence: _Breathe for me, sweetheart, breathe for me, that's it, you can do it --_

And it was times like this when Jack loved them so goddamn much it hurt -- it sent an arrow right through his heart.

He clamped a hand on Daniel's shoulder, and Daniel glanced up, his eyes showing the fear he was ruthlessly suppressing. "Hey," Jack said, feeling Daniel lean into the steady pressure of his hand. "I called back to the SSR with the radio on the car. They're sending someone out to meet us. Come on, let's get her in the car."

"I can walk," Peggy gasped, or rather wheezed, as they got her on her feet.

"No you can't," Jack snapped, and swept her up in his arms, something he'd never dare to do under normal circumstances. Despite her present condition, it resulted in a weak fist smacking his shoulder. At least it wasn't his jaw. Anyway, it didn't matter; he didn't _care_ if her dignity took a hit, if it saved her from using what precious oxygen she could get into her lungs trying to climb a hill.

It took some doing to scramble up to the car, while Daniel had all he could do to get _himself_ up. Jack deposited her in the backseat, looked over his shoulder to make sure Daniel was in, and remembered when his bare foot hit the gas pedal ... _Oh right. Shoes._ Oh well. His toes would survive. Peggy --

He clamped down on that thought. Hard.

"Think you could try not to kill us on the way to the hospital?" Daniel asked from the backseat as Jack tore around a curve, sparing no amount of speed.

"You want to come up here and drive, feel free."

Peggy wheezed something that Jack couldn't make out. He clamped his jaw and pushed the pedal down further.

"She said you're driving like a bloody fool," Daniel translated.

"Tell her I'll stop when she can come up here and yell at me properly," Jack said, not taking his eyes off the road.

 

***

 

_Overnight observation_ and _Going to be fine_ were the words bandied around at the hospital. Jack mostly cared about that last one. Well, that and he was starting to be slightly self-conscious about walking around hospital corridors in his shirtsleeves and barefoot, with twigs in his hair and grass stains on his shirt.

But the important thing was, Peggy was sitting up in her hospital bed and talking, still with a mottled flush on her face and a rasp in her voice that made her sound like a four-pack-a-day smoker, but she was _talking_ , and more importantly, breathing.

"Get in here and stop pacing," Daniel said, when Jack poked his head in the door.

He closed the door carefully, came and sat on the other side of the bed from where Daniel was pressed to her side, just shy of openly canoodling. The lucky asshole. That was what went along with being the legal husband. No matter what Jack wanted to do, he made himself stay just that little distance away, just far enough for plausible deniability. It was the sort of situation that made him feel a pale ghost of that bitter, miserable jealousy that had haunted him for months after they'd announced their engagement, back before things had changed between all three of them. It was different now. But he still couldn't --

Peggy clasped his hand and gave it a hard tug, so that -- too surprised to be properly braced -- he toppled against her. "Hey," Jack said, startled, but Daniel reached across and grasped his wrist, gentle but implacable, making it impossible to get away.

"Stubborn man," Peggy said, as she leaned against him. Daniel's thumb moved on the inside of his wrist, a tacit caress.

Hell with it, he thought, and in spite of the door that could open at any moment, he turned his head and pressed his face into her hair.


End file.
